


Small Town Witch

by jinkieswouldyoulookatthis



Series: Guardian [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2015-04-09
Packaged: 2018-03-21 23:49:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3707775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jinkieswouldyoulookatthis/pseuds/jinkieswouldyoulookatthis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in season 3 in between episodes 10 and 12.</p>
<p>Evil forces are plotting in a small town and Sam and Dean find themselves right in the middle of things, like usual.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Small Town Witch

A busy grocery store is generally not an ideal place for monster hunting. But, ideal or not, that is exactly where the Winchester brothers were, following a large man in a grey mechanic’s jumpsuit with the name Bob embroidered over his heart. 

“And we’re sure that this is our guy?” Dean asked under his breath as he looked around the store, noting that there were people everywhere.

“Four bodies were found this morning at the auto shop where Bob works and there was sulfur residue in his truck. It’s definitely him, Dean. If this follows the same pattern as the others, he is going to try to take a bunch of people with him. How do we want to do this?” Sam said quietly as he and his brother trailed the man from a couple of aisles away. 

“Not here. But, since we don’t seem to have a choice… Go get around behind him.” Dean said as he stepped towards the large, increasingly enraged-looking man who had stopped in the middle of the store, right between the registers and the aisles. Without hesitation, Sam jogged down and around the aisle next to him to get around the man.

“Hey, Sunshine!” Dean called out with a smirk on his face as Bob turned towards him. “Why don’t you step outside with me and we can settle things up between us?” His bravado caught the attention of the other shoppers. 

“I’ve got no business with you.” The man quietly growled. “I’m here for these nice folks.” His voice rose with an evil twist to the word nice and several people instinctively retreated from the area he was occupying. 

“Um, excuse me, is there a problem?” A slightly nervous looking young man wearing an employee apron asked Bob and Dean as he approached from the nearest register. Dean saw Sam step out behind Bob. Sam uncapped the sports-style water bottle in his hand and gave a nod to Dean.

“There’s going to be one, starting with you.” Bob turned menacingly on the young man, seemingly growing larger and redder as he did. He blinked and for a split second the black of his pupils seemed to encompass his whole eyes. Sucking in air, as if he were about to either breathe fire on the young man or huff and puff him all to pieces, he took a thunderous step forward but suddenly stopped. A woman had darted in between the men. In her early 30s, she had long, brown hair and was wearing skinny black jeans, a grey tee shirt and an overabundance of necklaces and bracelets. 

“No!” Dean shouted and moved as if to pull her out of the way. Before he could do anything, though, the woman faced the demon-man with confidence and with a sense of utter authority said something unintelligible in another language. As she spoke she traced a symbol in the air with her left hand and scattered what looked like dirt on the ground in a semi-circle before her feet with her right. 

Taking advantage of the moment of confusion, Sam stepped in and sprayed Bob with water. The water hissed and smoked where it touched the man. "Exorcizamus te, ominous immundus spiritus..." Bob bellowed in rage and realizing, perhaps, that he was surrounded, ran towards the back of the store. Sam and Dean ran after him through the back room and out into the loading and employee parking area behind the store.

As they ran off, the young employee looked at the woman who had just saved him with an expression of distrust and backed away from her. 

Bursting into the early evening sunshine, the brothers chased the demon-man across the small parking lot and down the next street. Laughing suddenly, Bob threw himself sideways into the path of an oncoming car. Although the driver slammed on his brakes and tried to swerve to the side, Bob still hit the hood, rolling up onto the windshield and smashing it, before rolling back down and onto the pavement. Bleeding and unconscious, he sighed and a cloud of blackness swarmed from his mouth and down into a nearby storm drain.

“Call an ambulance. I’ll meet you back at the car.” Dean barked to Sam as he jogged around to the front of the grocery, reaching the sidewalk just in time to see the woman driving off. Making a mental note of her license plate, he turned and noticed the young clerk talking with another employee and a couple of customers just in front of the store. As he walked up to them he overheard some of what they were saying. 

“…trouble follows that witch.”

“I tell you, she’s bad news.”

“No good, just like her mother.”

With much head shaking and muttering the group broke up as Dean approached. Before the clerk could go back inside, Dean caught his attention.

“Hey, did you know that guy?” he asked.

The young man eyed him suspiciously. “Not really. Who are you? What was that all about?”

“My brother and I are just passing through town. Thought we would stop and grab some grub when that guy door dings my car in the parking lot. Can you believe that? I yelled at him and he just ignored me and came walking in here.” Dean said as if it were the god’s honest truth and shook his head. “What about that woman? You know her?”

“Yeah. But you don’t want anything to do with her.”

“Why not?”

“Folks say she’s a witch. If you ask me, all this trouble that the town has been going through started with her…her family.”

***

Sam was already in the passenger seat as Dean got behind the wheel of the Impala. He watched in the rearview mirror as an ambulance went tearing by.

“We should get out of here; I don’t think Bob is going to make it. Did you get any leads on where to look for that demon now?” Sam asked.

Pulling out of the parking space, Dean replied, “According to the locals that woman inside is a witch and lives on the edge of town. She seemed to know what she was doing. Let’s start there.”

***

A police officer watched the ambulance pull away from the scene of the accident and then walked to the back of the grocery where the store manager and young clerk were standing by an open door. “Bill. Tim.” He nodded at each as he said their names. “What happened?”

***

The Impala stopped in front of a cottage with a large front porch set under the branches of an enormous oak tree. The brothers got out of the car and started to walk towards the house along a path that split and zig zagged between flowering plants and shrubs, slowly making its way up to the front steps. 

“Lavender, rosemary, hydrangea, lilac, mint, aloe, violets, thistle…these are all protective plants.” Sam remarked as he followed Dean towards the house.

“Yep, and check out the pattern they’re planted in.”

Sam lifted his gaze from the individual plants to try to take in the whole garden. His eyes widened with surprise, “It’s a ward!”

Dean nodded, “With the house at the center.” He walked up the steps onto the porch. Standing before the door they looked noticing an assortment of symbols both painted and carved on the floor, ceiling, shutters and even the door. “This place is sealed up tight against evil. If she is practicing black magic, she isn’t doing it here.” He knocked on the frame of the screen door and sniffed the air. “Do you smell that? Something smells good.”

Sam sniffed the air and gave his brother an amused look. Shaking his head he looked down. His eyebrows furrowed slightly at what he saw. “Is that a solid block of salt?” he said, pointing at the doorstep.

Dean stooped down, licked his finger, rubbed the stone and licked his finger again. Sam scrunched up his nose in disgust at his brother who didn’t notice. Dean said, “Yeah.” Looking impressed he added, “Man, why didn’t we ever think of that?” 

As he stood up the woman from the grocery came to the door, wiping her hands on a tea towel. She looked at the threshold and then at the two of them. “Did you just taste my doorstep?”

***

“She did something to him. She said something foreign sounding, like in a weird language, did this thing with her hand and threw some sort of powder at him. I’m telling you, she cast a spell on him that caused him to run out in front of that car.” Tim, the clerk, said.

The officer thought about this for a second, “And you said those two fellas splashed something on him?” 

Tim nodded. “The one with the short hair came back in afterwards and made like he didn’t know who she was. But if that was the case, how come they were helpin’ her? I mean, they tried to pick a fight with him and then chased him out of the store.”

***

“Miriam Montgomery?” Dean said in his best authoritative, officer of the law sort of voice.

The woman nodded and said, “The house isn’t edible. You know that, right?”

“Well, with witches ya just never know.” Dean said with a wry smirk as he watched her reaction.

Miriam sighed and rolled her eyes. “I’m not a witch, not really.”

“Not really?” He asked dubiously and raised his eyebrows.

She sighed again and looked the two men over carefully. After a second of thought she seemed to make up her mind about them. “It’s a long story, too long to tell standing at the door.” Pushing open the screen, she motioned them to come inside.

Sam and Dean looked at each other and then back at her without moving.

“I realize that you don’t have any reason to trust me. But, seeing as you started to exorcise a possessed man and judging by your demeanor and the fact that you are here now I’m guessing you’re hunters, am I right?” The brothers glanced at each other and shifted uncomfortably, obviously tensing as she continued, “Look at the sigils on the house. Do you see anything other than protective signs, signs that you two probably also use?” Sam looked around again while Dean remained focused on Miriam as she added. “Plus, every door step and window sill is made of salt. Demons can’t even see inside this house, let alone influence anything in here. We’re safer talking inside.” And again she gestured for the two men to come in.

Dean stared at her hard for another second or two and then looked at Sam who shrugged and nodded as if to convey that what she said made sense to him. Dean put his hand out to hold the screen door and smiled at Miriam, “After you.”

Sam and Dean followed Miriam into her kitchen at the back of the small house. 

“Please, have a seat.” She said and the brothers each took a seat at the table while she went over to the counter and transferred some cookies from a cooling rack to a plate. His eyes lighting up, Dean said, “Those smell amazing!”

She smiled and put the plate down on the table in front of the brothers. Dean immediately reached for one but Sam smacked the back of his brother’s hand and glared at him. Noticing his look of distrust, Miriam picked up the cookie that Dean had been about to take and took a bite. After swallowing she gave a little chuckle and said to Dean, “Go ahead and eat up, Hansel, I swear they’re safe.” 

Dean, staring at her, picked up another cookie and took a bite. As he chewed his eyes lit up and he smiled. “Mmm, gingerbread! You should try one, Gretel.”

“No. Thank you.” Sam glared at his brother. 

“So,” Miriam said as she sat down at the table and took another cookie, “our town’s little demon problem caught your attention, did it?”

“You aren’t a hunter and you’re not really a witch, what exactly are you?” Sam asked.

“I’m a…” she paused, searching for the right word, “…a guardian, I guess you could say. My family has been protecting this town for a long time.”

“The townsfolk don’t seem too appreciative of your efforts.” Dean said around a mouthful of cookie.

***

“You know she’s a witch. She’s probably consorting with demons and the like, causing all this trouble around town.” Tim voice rose as he got more and more worked up. People gathered around him, drawn in by the righteous fear in his voice. Many of them were nodding in agreement with his words.

***

Miriam sighed and shook her head sadly. “They can see the evil brewing up around them but they can’t see where it’s coming from. It’s easier for them to blame me than to try and understand what is really going on here, especially when the demons are influencing their emotions more and more. I don’t blame them, not really, but I can’t leave them, not now. At their best they might not be pleasant to me, but whether they know it or not, whether they like it or not, they need me.”

***

Another man was speaking to the crowd, “We’ve all seen it happening. Nice neighbors, folks who’ve lived here all their lives without any trouble, suddenly killing people? Crime is out of control. Just yesterday Jordan’s Mill burned to the ground because Frank Ryder set himself on fire!? And Alice said she saw her there right after it happened!” He glanced at the woman standing next to him.

“I did! She was walking by, real slowly with the firelight reflecting in her eyes. Looked like hellfire.”

The police officer spoke up at this, “Now hold on, all of you. The Montgomerys may be the black sheep in this town, and God knows not a one of ‘em has ever amounted to anything, but there has never been any evidence directly linking them to any crimes. Jordan’s Mill is on Miriam’s way home. Sure she looked at it as she went by, everyone that passed by took a good long look as they did.”

Two people near the outer edge of the crowd looked at each other with all black eyes that suddenly seem perfectly normal as they each turned to the person next to them and started whispering.

***

“The town was founded in 1781 when three landowners came together to trap and bind a powerful demon that was tormenting the area. After an exorcism failed to cast the demon back into Hell, they sought other means. They ended up using four oak trees, a mature tree and three saplings grown from its acorns planted in a triangle around the original.” She drew out a diagram as she talked.

“That works?”

Miriam nodded, “It does if the right patterns are laid out and the right spells are cast. As these stories often go, the men had to resort to asking the help of the nearest wise woman, or witch, as they referred to her. The woman lived in a small cottage in the woods on the edge of two of their properties.”

Sam and Dean looked around the kitchen, noticing signs of age in the structure around them, the field stone fireplace, wide worn floorboards and beam ceiling.

“So the demon was caught and locked up tight. And life was normal and relatively peaceful for over two hundred years. Then, about two years ago, lightning struck the central tree in town square. The oak was split and half burned. Given time, it could have healed itself and continued to grow, but it presented a safety hazard to the town and after a brief debate it was removed. Within six months the land that one of the outer trees stood on was sold to a real estate developer and the tree was cut down. A year later, the same thing happened over on the other side of town. The last few months have seen an unprecedented increase in violence and crime. As far as I can tell, there are at least two lessor demons in the area helping to stir folks up and were probably responsible for the 2nd and 3rd trees falling. The final tree is healthy and strong but I don’t know how much longer it can hold the trap closed all by itself. Truth be told, I could really use your all's help.”

***

Angry townspeople got into their cars and trucks and started to drive towards Miriam’s. The police officer was left behind, lying unconscious on the ground.

***

Sam, Dean and Miriam stood in the darkened front garden, looking up at the tree. 

“The demon can’t get free as long as this tree stands?” Dean asked.

“No, not fully. Although with the other trees gone there are widening cracks in its cage. The demon’s influence is growing stronger and attracting the wrong kind of attention. It is only a matter of time before it destroys this tree and is finally set free. And I have a bad feeling that there isn’t much time left.”

Sam glanced around at the garden and the house, "Can we repair the trap, fix the door?"

 

"I have been trying to grow some saplings to do just that, but every time I get seedlings sprouted they develop a blight and whither. Without trees grown from the acorns of this tree," she pointed up at the oak, "it won't work."

 

“What about these wards?” Sam asked, gesturing around them. 

“The garden will prevent demons and spirits from getting close to the tree or the house but it won’t affect regular people. The house…”

Before she could finish, about a dozen vehicles pulled up and angry people jumped out shouting things like, “There she is!” and, “Get her!” 

Dean stepped between Miriam and the forming mob. “Hey, everybody just calm down.”

“I told you they were with her!” Tim shouted from the back of the group.

“Tim? Bill? Jean? What are you all doing here?” Miriam pleadingly asked as she searched the faces of her lifelong neighbors, looking for something other than fear and hate.

“Quiet, witch!” Shouted a man armed with a baseball bat and the mob started to advance through the garden. 

“Sam, get her inside.” Sam reached out and grabbed Miriam’s hand, pulling her backwards a few steps until she turned and they retreated into the house. Dean shifted his position to keep himself between the mob and the house. Although ready to fight if it came to that, Dean held his hands out, palms forward. “Stop and think this through before you do something you’ll regret.” He said to the group.

The townsfolk spread out and advanced on Dean, flanking him. The one with the bat swung at him but Dean easily dodged, took the bat and knocked the guy to the ground with a blow to the back. Using the bat to try to keep the people away from the porch steps, he gave them another chance, “I don’t want to hurt any of you, but that doesn’t mean I won’t. Back off and we can talk this through.” 

Just then Tim walked through the crowd and raised a shotgun, aiming it at Dean. Dean didn’t budge but he kept his eyes on Tim. Voice shaking with anger Tim said, “We’ve got nothing to say to you.” Then to the other folks he commanded, “Get him out of the way.” Several men stepped up cautiously to Dean, unsure of how he would react. Dean risked a glance at them and then focused back on Tim. He would get shot if he tried to take them out, he could see it in Tim’s face and the way his hands were clutching the gun. He did not resist as the men took the bat and secured his hands behind him. Gun still trained on Dean, Tim shouted, “Get that witch back out here!”

A couple of the men headed up onto the porch but ran into an invisible barrier at the top step that prevented them from going any further.

***

Looking out the front window, Sam said, “What’s stopping them?”

“I had started to tell you that before, the house is heavily warded. No one that actively means harm to me can come under the roof.”

“That explains why you just let us in earlier.”

Miriam nodded and gave a halfhearted smile. When she looked back out of the window, her eyes widened in disbelief. “Wait. What are they doing?!” 

***

A man and a woman walked up to the porch steps with two cans of gasoline and began to splash gas on the house, moving in opposite directions around the porch.

“Stop!” Dean yelled and started to struggle but Tim stepped up to him and hit him hard across the face with the butt of the shotgun. Dean slumped, unconscious, back into the arms of the man restraining him. Tim handed the shotgun to a woman standing nearby and walked towards the house.

“Miriam Montgomery!” He pulled a pack of matches out of his pocket and struck one. “You and your family have brought nothing but evil to this town and we will no longer tolerate your wickedness among us.” He threw the match into the puddle of gasoline on the steps and the fire quickly spread around the house. "May God have mercy on your soul."

***

Sam grabbed Miriam’s arm and pulled her towards the kitchen. “We need to get out of here, now!” 

“Wait!” She cried and grabbed a backpack that was hanging by the door before turning and running with him through the kitchen and out the back door just as the flames raced around to the back of the house. As soon as they were out of the house, the man with the gas can charged at Miriam, swinging the now empty can like a weapon. Sam deflected the blow with his arm and landed a solid punch to the man’s face, dropping him to the ground. Scanning the area for other attackers, Sam put an arm around Miriam’s shoulders and steered her into the woods. 

Once out of sight, they stayed back in the trees and made their way around the house until they could see what was happening by the road. The old wood of the house caught quickly and flames were soon roaring up from the roof and into the overhanging branches of the great oak. Below, the townsfolk, backing away from the growing fire looking shocked and increasingly nervous and ashamed, got into their vehicles and drove off. Soon only Tim and a man and woman remained. Before Sam could charge at them, they roughly loaded Dean into a truck and drove away. The raging inferno of the house spread to completely engulf the oak tree.

“Shit.” Miriam sighed.

“We need to get to Dean. Come on.” Sam headed to the Impala. Miriam hesitated. She had known it was coming to this, she had packed the go bag that was slung over her shoulder months ago, and yet she found herself unprepared for the hollow sense of loss that was threatening to pull her in. Shaking the feeling off, at least for now, and giving her home one last look, Miriam followed him.

***

Sam parked the Impala on a side street where he and Miriam could see the town square. Tim and the two demon-possessed townspeople dragged Dean into the middle of the square where the central oak used to stand but which was now just a grassy expanse. They dumped him unceremoniously on the ground.

Sam tensed up and started to open the car door, getting ready to rush to his brother but Miriam stopped him. “That demon is going to be free any second now. I think I can stop it from getting completely loose,” she pulled a notebook and knife out of her backpack. “But I’m also going to need holy water and something I can draw on the road with.”

Sam nodded, got out of the car and opened the trunk. While they gathered the supplies, Miriam asked him, “I would be willing to bet that the lessor demons are over there, will you be able to handle them?”

Without hesitation, Sam said, “Yes.” He was loading up on ammunition for a sawed-off shotgun. “What are you going to do?”

“With any luck, trap the big guy so that we can send him back to Hell permanently. Get to Dean, if this works, I won’t be able to help you two but I may need your help to finish this.” She flipped open the notebook, tore out a page and handed it to Sam.

Sam looked at it. “What is this?”

“It’s an exorcism." At his puzzled look she added, "A very specifically written exorcism just for this demon. It’s written out phonetically so just read it out loud. I’ll take care of the rest. Good luck, Sam.”

“Yeah, you too.” Shotgun in hand, Sam grabbed a water bottle, shut the trunk and ran off towards Dean while Miriam walked out into the middle of the main street and hastily started spraying a ward on the road around her feet with the can of orange paint Sam had given her.

 

***

 

Sam unscrewed the top from the bottle as he cut across the grass of the square. The two demons were kneeling down, holding Dean’s arms and legs to the ground while whispering to Tim, who was holding a large knife and seemed to be in a trance. Awake now, Dean struggled to break out of the demons’ grip, but was held tight to the ground. Tim reached down and ripped something from around Dean's neck, letting it drop to the ground. So intent were they on what they were doing, none of them saw Sam coming.

 

***

Tossing the can of spray paint aside, Miriam uncapped her bottle of holy water and poured some over both sides of the knife while speaking something in that same other language. Taking a couple of deep, steading breaths, she pulled down the neck of her shirt and drew the edge of the blade across her chest.

 

***

Sam threw the holy water on the male demon while blasting the female with two salt rounds to the chest, sending it sprawling back a couple of feet. Swinging the shotgun like a bat, he hit Tim hard enough to drop him straight to the ground. Dean wrenched one of his legs free and kicked at the male demon trying to get him off his other leg.

 

Picking herself up, the female demon grabbed up the blade that Tim had been holding and rather than attacking either of the Winchesters she turned and slit Tim’s throat. 

 

***

 

Across town, the oak tree broke with an ear splitting crack and crashed down onto the blazing remains of Miriam's house.

 

***

 

As Tim's blood seeped into the ground everything started to rumble and shake. Suddenly a large crack appeared in the ground beneath Tim’s body. With an unholy roar, black smoke surged out of the hole and started to enter Dean’s mouth.

“Dean!” Sam shouted, barely registering that Miriam was chanting something loudly behind him.

The black smoke stopped and pulled back out of Dean, shooting right past Sam to where Miriam was standing. It coursed into her, dropping her to her knees before she collapsed, unmoving inside the devil’s trap. 

The two lesser demons, seeing that their purpose had been thwarted, screamed in rage before they smoked out of their human vessels and disappeared. 

“Dean, are you okay?” Sam helped his brother stand up.

“Peachy.” Dean replied as he reached down and grabbed his anti-possession charm off the ground, "Fat lot of good that did me. What happened? Where did it go?” He asked as he followed Sam over to where Miriam lay.

“She drew it out of you and into herself.” 

“Why hasn't it taken her over yet?” They looked with concern at the still form lying in the middle of an unfamiliar circular symbol.

“I don’t know, but let’s get it out of her before it can.” Sam pulled the piece of paper she had given him out of his pocket, unfolded it read the strange words out loud. As he said the last word, the brothers looked at Miriam and then at each other, nothing had seemed to happen.

“Did it work?” 

“I don’t know.”

Dean picked up the bottle of holy water from where Miriam dropped it, checked inside to see if there was any left and then splashed the last few drops on her. Her skin smoked and burned where the water hit. “The bastard is still in her.” Dean picked up the knife she had dropped and looked perplexed. “Well now what the hell do we do? We can’t leave her here in the middle of the road.”

“She’s bleeding.” Sam knelt down next to her and carefully pulled down the neck of her shirt, exposing what she had carved onto her own chest. “A devil’s trap! She trapped it inside of herself?”

“What are those other symbols?” Dean gestured to a ring of bloody symbols that were around the devil’s trap. 

Sam shrugged, “Maybe that's what is keeping it from taking her over. Come on, I think it’s safe to move her.” Dean grabbed her notebook and knife as Sam lifted her up and carried her to the Impala. They placed her carefully in the backseat and got into the car. 

"Hopefully there's an answer in here." Dean handed the notebook and knife to Sam before starting the car and pulling away from the curb.

To be continued…


End file.
